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The Zulu community relied on the natural vegetation to feed their animals

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The Zulu community relied on the natural vegetation to feed their animals. The vast grasslands provided good grounds for these activities. Men and boys were supposed to graze the cattle in an open field while women tilled land to produce crops. This means that transhumance Pastoralism was practiced in the Zulu land. The community mainly depended on their animals that were supplemented with the food grown by their women. A herder was considered mature and able to make serious decisions on where to graze without any consultation. He was also expected to increase his herd aggressively through all possible means. Men from the same locality grazed together in small groups that were based on mutual relationships.

In the Zulu community, Large Herds of cattle were not only considered as a source of income but also prestige, power, and respect. This is because the bigger the herd the more one was considered brave. Pastoralist conquests were frequent and in most cases, herders emerged gained victory over the farming communities. This increased their respect in the community. For example, Mongols, who were horse herders, were given great tribute for centuries after winning such battles. According to O’Neil (2011), the Zulu community gained a lot of fame from such battles in the 1830s before the British army defeated them in 1879.

A very unstable economy characterized the Zulu community. Herds of cattle are biological assets that are prone to change making it difficult to determine their future value. They can only be measured using the fair value method of measurement with many underlying assumptions. A biological asset undergoes the process of growth, reproduction, aging, and procreation. In this case, there is no clear market set for such assets and there are no guidelines to determine how long this should be reviewed. According to Hlaciuc, et al (2008), “The measurement of biological assets is less reliable than the fair value method since sometimes the coupled products and coupled costs can generate situations where inputs and outputs are not correctly defined.” With these limitations in the measurement of a biological asset’s value, it was difficult for a Zulu person to define the value of their assets at a particular time.